Interview questions for the company you are interviewing at

You have reached that uncomfortable part of the interview when you are asked "do you have any questions for us?" If you are prepared, you probably have one or two questions to ask. On news.ycombinator.com I saw this link and I really liked the questions there. (I have nothing to do with the site/blog.) What questions do you like to ask the interviewer?

one that's been on my mind lately is project & schedule management.. what status reports are required, how do they handle additional feature requests or changes in product requirements mid-project, do they track how accurate their initial work estimates were. i haven't come up with a great way to ask it that doesn't sound like i have a chip on my shoulder, though, because i *do* have a chip on my shoulder.

you could ask how promotions and performance ratings are evaluated

you could ask about hours flexibility, working from home, whether weekend pager duty is required, etc.. if it hasn't already been covered.

My favorite question to ask during that period (and you've usually only got time for about one) is "Let's say someone outside the team has an idea for a feature. Everyone in the business agrees that idea is a great one, and needs to be implemented. Walk me through the process of taking that idea from the start through a delivered feature."

You can get a pretty good picture of a company's development practices with that one question, usually answering or getting a good picture of numbers 1-7, 10 and 12 on the Joel Test using that one question. Beyond that, it gives a good picture of whether or not the company is thinking about their development process as a whole; if the process is streamlined, simple, involves the team from the ground up (instead of bringing them in after everything has been hashed out, estimated and signed off on), you can tell that they're doing more than just throwing code on the production server and hoping nothing breaks.

I've never known for sure that I want to work for a company based on the answer to that question, but I have known of at least a few that I definitely didn't want to work for.

I've never known for sure that I want to work for a company based on the answer to that question, but I have known of at least a few that I definitely didn't want to work for.

I think that is the goal of these types of questions, to raise red flags.

I don't think you should be asking canned questions or asking the same questions over and over again in order to just sound like you have some questions to ask-- but there are folks out there who really just don't know how this works.

I'm all for asking (or being asked) questions about how the job is done, what the expectations are and within *some* boundaries, what the employee should expect in terms of things that benefit them: e.g what's the benefits package like? How long is an average workday? What happens if there's a problem at 5:00 PM on a Friday? How does the interviewer feel they've been treated with respect to compensation and raises/promotions over time, when do employees typically see raises? Are there cost of living increases baked into the contract or any probationary periods, etc?

Don't sound *too* greedy, but a lot of people just don't know what to ask, or even that they're supposed to ask something.

Some candidates just freeze up during an interview. Some will be moderately engaged in the interview itself but afraid to ask questions. If nothing else, it's a good icebreaker for the interviewer to ask "are you with me so far? do you have any questions at this time?" and then to ask a question. Obviously don't ask a stupid or a canned question, but be engaged in the discussion. Don't be intimidated by this part of the process. It's an area where a lot of people who would do a great job just don't interview as strongly as they might, given a little confidence.

Looking at questions before hand might give you some idea of what you *might* want to ask, but dear $deity, don't have a canned set of questions.

How would you describe the company culture?Are *you* happy working here?Are there any current trends with this company or the market it serves that might affect my decision to accept a potential offer?

Also, always ask about benefits that they may not have covered. 401k, vacation accrual policies, insurance plans/cost, bonus structure, etc.

When I interviewed for the job I have now I asked, "What are some things the company is working on now that has everybody excited?" They ended up telling me about a major brand acquisition (had nothing to do with IT) that genuinely interested me. I thought it was great that people from different departments were excited about this and for the company as a whole, and I think it sold them that I had a passion for the industry and could fit in with that mindset.

I've never known for sure that I want to work for a company based on the answer to that question, but I have known of at least a few that I definitely didn't want to work for.

I think that is the goal of these types of questions, to raise red flags.

I don't think you should be asking canned questions or asking the same questions over and over again in order to just sound like you have some questions to ask-- but there are folks out there who really just don't know how this works.

For me, at least, the idea isn't to have a set of questions to ask just to ask them, but to have questions in mind about issues that are important to me. The questions might get answered in the course of the interview, but I need to be paying attention to catch this information and then ask once for clarification or more information at the end of the interview.

I have another side question about this topic so putting it here. I have my third interview (first was HR, second was a different dev group that passed on me, this one is a second dev group) at this point most of the questions that I actually had have been answered either by HR or the first dev group that I met with. Now I know some things might be different between the 2 groups so I might ask 1/2 of the questions over but at this point would I lose "points" just saying I have no questions?

What was the "thing" that got you to come here in the end? - Usually can get a follow up question or two out of that.

Does the company/dept do anything for fun? - Not phrased exactly that way.

What I try to get at is what goes out within/outside the work day. Here, we go to the Triple A ball club game once a year. Last place actually had a chili cookoff with employees where customers came in to judge. They also had a cookout outside once a year with the execs manning the grill. Drinks/food provided. I like seeing coworkers outside of a complete work setting occasionally.

I have another side question about this topic so putting it here. I have my third interview (first was HR, second was a different dev group that passed on me, this one is a second dev group) at this point most of the questions that I actually had have been answered either by HR or the first dev group that I met with. Now I know some things might be different between the 2 groups so I might ask 1/2 of the questions over but at this point would I lose "points" just saying I have no questions?

Usually when I'm in that situation, I'll let the interviewer know that the questions I'd had were previously answered by X person that I'd already interviewed with.

Now I know some things might be different between the 2 groups so I might ask 1/2 of the questions over but at this point would I lose "points" just saying I have no questions?

Every interviewer is different. Everybody brings their own personality to the table.

As SituationSoap noted, though, I'd probably say that I know about the benefits, but might want this particular interviewer's take on them. Also questions about the day-to-day work sound like something worth investigating.